Complaining... Badly.

"ויהי העם כמתאוננים רע באזני ד'..."

[במדבר יא:א]

"And there were those in the nation who were complaining badly in the ears of Hashem…"

[Bamidbar 11:1]

 

One would almost think that there is such a thing as complaining, but not badly. What was the great sin of the complainers ?

They complained of the travails of the journey. They had had three straight days of travelling and that was too much.

There is a saying – "You can answer a question, but you can't pacify a complaint". The entire mentality of a complaint is beyond the realm of logical reasons. That is because the complainer doesn't want an answer – they want to demonstrate their just displeasure.

So we see that a complaint against G-d is a horrible thing – it essentially negates the good that G-d does for us and brands the complainer as a total ingrate. But why does the passuk specify that this was a bad complaint – is there such a thing as a good one?

Yes !

Earlier in the parasha we saw the "complaint" of those who were impure and couldn't bring a korban pesach. They came before Moshe and said "Why should we be left out?" Essentially, they were complaining that there was this statute that forbade them from serving G-d – "It's not fair!"

But this complaint is good – because it doesn't negate our obligations to Hashem, rather, it emphasizes them. And Hashem recognizes this. That's why in response to the pesach complaint – Hashem created a holiday ( Pesach take two ).

So whenever we feel the need to "complain" to Hashem – try to take a step back and analyze the complaint – is it good ?

Hatzlacha !!